Process for fabricating a detachable coiffure



United States Patent Inventor Beatrice A. Hudson 729 W. Cottom, New Albany, Indiana 47150 Appl. No. 804,401

Filed March 5, 1969 Patented Sept. 29, 1970 PROCESS FOR FABRICATING A DETACHABLE COIFFURE 10 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 132/5, 132/53 Int. Cl A41g 5/00 Field ofSearch 132/5, 53, 56

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,253,635 8/1941 Mann 132/5 3,081,780 3/1963 Cramcr 132/5 3,156,999 11/1964 Dean ct 211.. 132/5X 3,420,249 1/1969 Bonham 132/5X FOREIGN PATENTS 1,003,034 11/1951 France .1 132/5UX Primary Examiner Louis G. Mancenc Assislant Examiner-J.N. Eskovitz AllorneyNormzin L. Wilson, Jr.

ABSTRACT: A hair piece made by aligning hair to a rod-like member, trimming the hair ends, grouping the hair covered rods together and coating the trimmed ends with an e1ast0- meric binder to form a web-like base.

3,530,862 Patented Sept. 29, 1970 INVENTOR. BEATRICE A. HUDSON wim y HER ATTORNEY PROCESS FOR FABRICATING A DETACHABLE COIFFURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention pertains to the fabrication of a detachable coiffure, particularly falls, wiglets, and hair pieces.

It is known that the construction of partial wigs, or hair pieces, is an old, time-consuming, and tedious art. It has been the practice to hand knit or sew hair to a fabric foundation such as netting or padding. One suggested method of fabricating partial wigs is to ventilate the hair into the foundation. The hair is ventilated into the foundation by the use of a ventilating needle similar to a crochet hook. Partial wigs are also made by cementing or gluing the hairs to the outer surface of the fabric foundation. Another method of making partial wigs is to form a plurality of sets of hair by means of binding strips in a manner similar to that used in making brushes, the sets being later arranged in side-by-side relation.

A convenient method of forming sets of hair is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,l62,203. In this process an applicator is provided in which a plurality of hairs can be held to be sub sequently embedded in a suitable adhesively coated net. The hairs are caused to lie between the teeth of the applicator and since they are cut close to the applicator they will penetrate through the adhesive coated net. The problem which faces the manufacturer of partial wigs is twofold. First, an effective method of securing the hair to the base'must befound. whether by sewing or by gluing. Second, the coiffure should be so fabricated that normal circulation of air is possible, permitting penetration and ventilation of the wearers head for comfort and health. Thus, a cons i t f sla i lYEEEt fii t iilfislifiittlis arrays such as are sTiown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,273,570. However, ventilation would be impossible unless the arrays were, in some manner, separated from each other.

Hence they must be attached to a fabric foundation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention can perhaps best be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view showing one rod-like holder surrounded by uncut hair FIG. 2 shows that same holder with the hair trimmed FIG. 3 shows the hair holders adjacent each other in position to be formed into the finished coiffure.

FIG. 4 shows a wig as made by the process In FIG. 5 the hair in FIG. 2 is end coated FIG. 6 shows a method of hiding the edge of the web base material.

Referring now specifically to FIG. 1, one of the difficulties in prior art methods of fabricating hair pieces involves assembling the various strands of hair. In this process a layer of hair 2 is placed around the outside of hair holder 4. This layer is then temporarily secured around holder 4 by means of a band 6 which can be of an elastic material, a locking metal clamp, or a twineor thread wrapping. The hair holder can be in the form of tubular or solid plastic, glass or metal rods. These rods can have circular, square, hexagonal or any polygonal cross section. Generally circular or honeycomblike appearand hair pieces which does not require a foundation. A foun- I dation is formed during the fabrication process. In addition: the foundation so formed allows air to circulate therethrough .45

as well as through the coiffure. A process is provided herein for fabricating a detachable coiffure in which the hair is held in a honeycomb-like foundation, the holes being passages such that air circulates to the wearer's head. The invention thus provides a detachable coiffure of the usual type consisting of hair having its free ends for styling and its opposite base ends secured to a foundation, said coiffure including an elastomeric base material in the form of a rubber-like 'web, said web having the base hair ends embedded in the meshwork thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION hair ends are then trimmed about level with or slightly above the hair holders. Each hair holder is placed adjacent another hair holder with the ends adjacent each other beingso aligned and positioned as to form the overall contour of the base. The hair holders are then locked together to hold the hair ends in said aligned position. The hair ends are then coated with an elastomeric or rubber-like binder so that the ends surrounding the hair holder are joined together and a continuous elastomeric base is formed. If desired, trimmedhair edges slightly above each hair holder can be first coated. The hair holder with its surrounding layer of hair thus coated can be placed adjacent another holder. Perferably this will be done while the binder is still tacky, i.e., only partially set. After the elastomeric binder sets, the tubular or rod-like hair holders are removed. As a result holes are left in the base, resulting in a honeycomb-like foundation with passages through which air circulates to the wearers head.

ance' will be fabricated.

Following the process of FIG. 1 a layer of hair will be temporarily secured around a series of hair holders, the number being determined by the area of the base, i.e., the size of the hair piece. After the desired number of holders have been prepared the uneven hair ends are then trimmed close to the holder as shown at 8 in FIG. 2. The ends 8 can be trimmed flush with the holder if desired. However it is preferred, since these ends will be coated, that they protrude slightly, say onesixteenth of an inch. The hair holders are now ready to be arranged in an aligned position in order to form the base. This is accomplished by placing the holders adjacent each other as shown in FIG. 3. If a fall is being fabricated, these can be hand held until an elastic band 10 or other holder similar to but larger than band 6 is placed around the assembly. If a larger hair piece is being fabricated, the readied hair holders can be placed in a holding band supported on legs.

When positioned as shown in FIG. 3, the hair holder will generally be aligned so that the trimmed hair ends of adjacent hair holders are flush with each other. In other words all of the hair ends will be virtually in the same plane. However it will be appreciated that if some contour is desired the holders can be gradually elevated or lowered. Thus a concave web can be made by raising each holder slightly above an adjacent one working from the center outwardly. This should be quite gradual since the greater the displacement the thicker will be the binder film.

Having placed the hair holders in their aligned positions as shown in FIG. 3, the next step is to coat the hair ends. This is best accomplished by applying a coat of the elastomeric binder to the hair edges, being careful not to form a continuous film. More binder can be applied to the trimmed hair edges when they protrude beyond the hair holder, and, of course, several coats can be applied if desired. when additional strength is desired, individual assemblies, surrounded by trimmed hair as shown in FIG. 2, can be treated with a coat 12 to cover the hair edges as shown in FIG. 5. In this instance bands 6 can be removed before the coiffure is completed. The assemblies can then be aligned while the hair ends are tacky. As a result they will be bonded to each other before the final bonding coats are applied. If this method is used, it will be' desirable to allow the tacky surfaces to dry prior to applying subsequent bonding coats.

After the bonding layers have dried, cured or hardened, the band 10 will be removed. The hair holders 4, being made of smooth or polished materials, can then be pulled out leaving a rubber-like web with hair ends embedded therein as shown in FIG. 4. If desired the hair holders can be coated with a release agent so that any binder will not adhere to the holders. However, many elastomeric materials. do not readily stick to plastics, metal or glass. Particularly desirable elastomeric materials are aqueous binders, for example, vinyl resin emul sions, polyvinyl acetate, acrylic ester copolymer emulsions, synthetic and natural latex, and the like. Examples are vinvl plastics such as polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl acetate, vinyl chloride. polyvinyl acetals, vinyl acetate copolymers, and monovinyl acetylene polymers such as the neoprenes.

Polyesters which can be used are esters of saturated alcohols and unsaturated acids, esters of unsaturated alcohols and saturated acids, as well as unsaturated halogen and nitrogen-containing acids or alcohols each having a single double bond. Examples are allyl, methallyl. crotyl, l-chlorallyl, Z-chloroallyl. cinamyl, vinyl, methvinyl. l-phenyallyl, butenyl, etc., alcohol esters of saturated aliphatic and aromatic monobasic acids such, for example. as acetic, propionic. butyric, valerie, caproic, benzoic, phenylacetic, etc. acids. Included also are the saturated monohydric alcohol esters, e.g., the methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, butyl, sec-butyl, amyl, etc. esters of unsaturated aliphatic monobasic and polyhasic acids. su ch as acrylic and alpha-substituted acrylic (including alkacrylic, e.g., methacrylic, ethacrylic, propacrylie, etc. and arylacrylic, e.g., phenylacrylic, etc), crotonic, maleic. fumaric, citraconic, mesaconic, itaconic, aconitic, etc.

Polyamide resins such as the Versamids and the vegetable oil modified polyamides can be used as well as epoxy resins. Epoxy resins within the contemplation of this invention are glycidyl polyethers of both polyhydric alcohols and polyhydric phenols, epoxidized fatty acids or drying oil acids. epoxidized diolefins, epoxidized di-unsaturated acid esters, as well as epoxidized unsaturated polyesters, so long as they contain, on the average. more than one epoxide group per molecule. The well known glycidyl polyethers of polyhydric phenols are made by the reaction of a polyhydric phenol with ephihalohydrin or glycerol dihalohydrin, using a sufficient amount of a caustic alkali to combine with the halogen of the halohydrin. Products resulting from the dehydrohalogenation of these reaction products are monomeric or straight chain polymeric products characterized by the presence of more than one oxirane group. i.e., l. 2 epoxy equivalency greater than one. The preparation of polyepoxides from polyhydric phenols and epihalohydrin is described in US. Pat. Nos. Z,467,l7l. 2,538.072. 2.582.985, 2.6l5,007. and 2.698.315, the proportion of the halohydrin (epichlorhydrin or glycerol dichlorhydrin) to dihydric phenol being at least about L2 to 1. up to around l to 1. ln addition to polyepoxides made from alcohols or phenols and an epihalohydrin, polyepoxides made by the known peracid method are also suitable. Epoxides of unsaturated esters. polyesters, diolefins and the like can be prepared by reacting the unsaturated compound with a peracid. It can thus be seen that virtually any elastomeric material can be used to form the honeycomb base herein. It will also be appreciated that natural or other hair can be used from any source. Such modifications are within the scope of this invention.

Normally, depending upon the thickness of the film, a ridge 14 will be formed by the cured binder. The hair, of course, will hide this. However if it is desired to make this edge even less -visible, FIG. 6 shows a method for accomplishing this. A soft block 16 is made which has approximately the contour, espe cially the size and shape of the surface, of web base a. When hair 18, held against it by plate 20, is trimmed, it will be so shaped that it will fit and can be easily glued to edge 14 of base a. Other variations will occur to those skilled in the art.

lclaim:

1. A process for fabricating a detachable coiffure, said process providing a partial wig having a honeycomb-like foundation with the holes being passages such that air circulates to the wearer's head, the process'comprising securing a layer of hair around the outside surface and parallel to the longitudinal axis of each of a plurality of rod-like hair holders having a cross sectional perimeter about the size of the air circulation holes desired, trimming the hair approximately level with one end of each hair holder, placing said hair holders adjacent each other with the trimmed hair ends about flush with each other, all virtually1 in alignment to form a continuous base, locking said hair olders together to hold said trimmed hair ends in said flush position, coating said trimmed hair ends with an elastomeric resinous binder and removing said hair holders leaving a perforated elastic wig base.

2. The process of claim I wherein the hair is held around the outside surface of the rod-like hair holder during trimming by means ofan elastic band.

3. The process of claim 1 wherein the hair is held around the outside surface of the rod-like hair holder during trimming by means of a string or thread.

4. The process of claim 3 wherein said trimmed hair ends are first coated with the elastomeric binder prior to placing the hair holders adjacent each other.

5. The process of claim 4 wherein said hair holders are placed adjacent each other while the first coat is tacky.

6. The process of claim 3 wherein said hair holders are rods having a circular cross section.

7. The process of claim 3 wherein said hair holders are rods having a hexagonal cross section.

8. The process of claim 3 wherein said hair holders are tubes.

9. The process of claim 3 wherein a layer of hair is bonded to the outside edge ofsaid perforated base.

10. The process of claim 1 including holding a layer of hair over a block having approximately the contour of the base, trimming the hair around said block and then gluing the hair to the edge of the perforated base. 

